Filmmakers Raj and DK celebrated six years of their hit horror-comedy Stree on Saturday. Directed by Amar Kaushik, who has also directed Stree 2, the film was written and produced by Raj and DK. The duo shared the story of the film’s beginning on Instagram. Stree featured Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee, and Pankaj Tripathi.
Recalling how a wall scribbling in Tirupati became a horror-comedy, Raj and DK delved into how the story of ‘Stree’ came to be. “Two back-to-back studio films failed… Typically, this type of situation means the end of a filmmaking career,” the duo wrote. It was also the day Mumbai had heavy rain, and with a “heavy heart,” Raj walked through foot-deep water to get to a coffee shop with his laptop. Raj continued, “So, I typed out on a blank page, ‘O Stree, Kal Aana!’ I dug into one of my lasting childhood visuals-every other wall in my hometown Tirupati, covered with the scribbling, ‘O Stree, repu raa..’ Nobody knew what the story behind that was. All they knew was a strange urban legend that a scary stree will come into your house if you don’t write this. Why? How? What does she want? No one knew.”
Raj then started wondering, what if she couldn’t read Telugu? Why would she keep falling for the same trick to come back? And what if, despite everything, she still wanted to enter? These ideas stayed with him for years and eventually inspired them to think about a “gender reversal” film, where men are the ones afraid to go out late at night, experiencing the fears that many women face every day.
A small coffee shop in Andheri West became their office and that is where they met the crew and actors, discovered a talented writer at the next table, and spent hours discussing the film’s production. Soon after, the film hit the floors. The duo wrote, “Cut to: A crew ready to buy into this silly story was put together. A cast was cajoled into doing this film despite it being nonconforming. A film started getting shot despite there being no precedent for this kind. A super friendly fun shoot happened in the tiniest of the towns, Chanderi, where we stayed in guesthouses and schools, shot all over the town and played Mafia at nights. Many lasting bonds were formed.”
Raj and DK said they made Stree on a “small budget” and released it “without a formula” and not following usual rules. The film was also the fastest movie they ever made.
“Aug 31, 2018. A ridiculous story, defying all odds, became a phenomenon. Glad we went back to our roots. Glad we stuck to the films we want to make. Glad this was the first Hindi film we produced. A renewed second innings of D2R Films started, on our terms with our kind of stories and with no compromises. The Family Man, Farzi, Guns & Gulaabs, Cinemabandi, Citadel Honey Bunny, Gulkanda Tales, Rakt Brahmand… all followed.”
Stree 2 has emerged as a blockbuster too. Raj & DK were the original writers of the Stree universe. However, due to a fallout with Dinesh Vijan, the duo disassociate themselves from the Stree franchise.
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